In the management of a garden or a lawn or turf, it is necessary to remove those undesired plants which compete for sun and nutrients and which distract from the desired appearance of the cultivated vegetation. Many weeds, particularly those having rhizomes such as dandelions, nut grass, plantian, thistles and others, are deeply rooted. If the top portions of such weeds are removed, as is generally the case when the weeds are pulled from the ground, the weeds are able to grow back from the portion of the roots which remain in the ground. To prevent a particular weed from returning the weed must be completely destroyed or removed. Various poisons and herbicides are available for destroying weeds, but herbicides can damage desired plants as well as being toxic to humans and pets. To avoid the use of herbicides, to permanently remove a weed it is best to extract the entire plant including all roots.
The entire weed may be extracted by digging down through the full extent of the roots with a spade or excavation tool, but such an operation of necessity will disturb the desired vegetation surrounding the weed.
If the soil in which the weed is rooted is flooded, the roots may be pulled from the resulting mud while leaving a majority of the soil in place. This flooding may be obtained by inserting a common garden hose into the ground surrounding the weed. However, this operation is imprecise, destructive to neighboring vegetation, and wasteful of water.
Hydraulic weeding tools consisting of cylindrical tubes connected to a garden hose offer slightly more control. A lengthy tube may be pressed downwardly into the ground to loosen the soil surrounding deeply placed roots. These hydraulic weeders usually feature a nozzle for the escape of the pressurized water which is either directed exclusively downwardly or exclusively perpendicular to the tubing. The downwardly directed streams of water aid the insertion of the tool into the ground, but are not able to focus the water stream in the direction of the root of the undesired plant. Conversely, nozzles which direct the water flow onto the root of the weed perpendicular to the tube are more difficult to insert into the ground to the depths required. Furthermore, known hydraulic weeders loosen the soil in a general area surrounding the weed. This lack of direction means that more water than optimally required is injected into the soil.
What is needed is a weeding tool which directs a flow of pressurized water onto the subterranean root of an undesired plant in a controlled directional manner to facilitate insertion of the tool into the ground and quick removal of the plant without excessive consumption of water.